REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - More Britons made enquiries with estate agents about potential house purchases over the past four weeks as mortgage rates started to fall, breaking a downward trend which has been in place since April, property website Zoopla said on Thursday. "Better news on inflation and the end of base rate increases has provided scope for lenders to start reducing mortgage rates which has supported a modest uptick in demand for homes," Zoopla's executive director, Richard Donnell, said. Weekly mortgage data collated by property website Rightmove showed the average interest rate for a mortgage with a two-year fixed rate fell from an average of 6.41% in August to 6.07% this week. This still represents a sharp increase from 4.60% a year ago, when mortgage rates had already begun to climb after bond markets baulked at the then-Prime Minister Liz Truss' budget plans as well as BoE tightening. Mortgage lender Halifax said house prices in August were 4.6% lower than a year earlier, the sharpest drop in 14 years.

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Persons: Phil Noble, Zoopla, Richard Donnell, Rightmove, Liz Truss, BoE, David Milliken, William James Our Organizations: REUTERS, Royal Institution, Chartered Surveyors, Thomson Locations: Knutsford, Britain, Halifax